(14) Tionale - In Search of a Lady

[Eris]

The week in jump space passes without an problems. It does give the crew time to work on their skills and do more maintenance.

It also give everyone to talk among themselves about how they plan to find the Baron's daughter and deliver the letter from her mother.

[Tiglath]

With all the passengers out of the way Sigrun continues her physical regimen about the ship and her Recon training in the holo equipped stateroom/library.

"Find her!" Seated in the mess Sigrun is playing a three card game with John Lee. Close observation would suggest but can't immediately prove that the game is rigged and that they are, in fact, actually trying to out cheat each other...

Pausing from the game Sigrun muses "With Freida Marie out in the wilds hopefully someone is contracted to run her group supplies. So, we find them and then follow the logistics trail to her. Border worlds require a "diplomatic" touch and maybe this one more than most so I don't think we should use the ship and go about blasting with our sensors on her last known position".

She looks over her mead cup with her heterochromatic eyes and adds a wry smile as her accent thickens "Remember that when we land you Imperials must resist the urge to plant flags and fill your pockets with earth for this is a free world and it is not yours to grasp. Take a look at the hnefatafl board as others might. If Tionale is seized then there is no viable port to the beacon of freedom that is Ruie. It might be well to keep that in mind".

OOC: Map to Sigrun's reference: https://travellermap.com/?p=-99.16!69.5!7

[bruce.desertrat]

The week in jump space passes without an problems. It does give the crew time to work on their skills and do more maintenance.

It also give everyone to talk among themselves about how they plan to find the Baron's daughter and deliver the letter from her mother.

As dinner winds down the first evening Pedro says "We need a plan for this, and fortuntaely we have some intel that may be useful; I'll let Emily debrief us on what she's learned, then we can start looking at maps and such."

[terrymixon]

The week in jump space passes without an problems. It does give the crew time to work on their skills and do more maintenance.

It also give everyone to talk among themselves about how they plan to find the Baron's daughter and deliver the letter from her mother.

As dinner winds down the first evening Pedro says "We need a plan for this, and fortuntaely we have some intel that may be useful; I'll let Emily debrief us on what she's learned, then we can start looking at maps and such."

Emily nodded and took a sip of her drink. "I was contacted by someone close to the baron that claimed to be working for the Imperial Security Service and wanted to pass along some information while maintaining their anonymity. They said that the Ine Givar are rumored to have an active cell on Tionobe. Their front is supposedly an environmental organization opposing the exploitation of the native species there.

"They think the Baron's daughter is part of the environmental organization. They don't think she's Ine Givar, just a 'fellow traveler', but they also aren't sure she isn't in the terrorist organization. They claim that she has a somewhat radical history of supporting Democracy over the Imperial system while at university."

She grinned at Sigrun. "They also suggested we be careful of Sigrun with her Sword World background, but they don't know her like we do. They said there's no evidence that she's an agent, but there's no evidence she isn't, which is the usual kind of double speak you get from people covering their butts. The Ine Givar have connections with the Zhodani and the Sword Worlders are their allies, so they were worried it could be a 'friend of a friend' situation. Again, their thoughts, not mine.

"Their warning to me was so that we didn't walk into a situation without some awareness, which I appreciate, but I didn't know them and they could be passing disinformation, too."

Emily sat back and sipped her drink while taking in the reactions.

Emily

[bruce.desertrat]

Pedro sips his beer and smiles."Rumored, supposed. I like the 'fellow traveller' bit. Makes her sound oh so suspicious!

If I had a credit for every time anything that didn't entirely conform to official Imperial Pronouncement of Reality. was pronounced an evil plot by the Ine Givar or Solomani, or whatever the bad guy du jour was...I coulda bought Connie with pocket change. Ine Givar on Ruie? Yes, infested like cucaroches infest a messy hab. "

"On this backwater, there might be a few who were sent here for punishment to stir up some trouble ... and a Naval Intelligence officer who was busted in rank for drunkenness or insubordination and a couple staff unlucky or incompetent enough to pull that short straw. There will be the usual grubby 'adventurers', con men, dissolute, very minor second and third spare heirs and opportunistic reprobates who infest these sorts of places and the do-gooders like our Lady of Tionale, whom I deeply suspect is guilty of being nothing more than young, idealistic and rebelling against her parents."

He sighs. "The usual hive of scum and villainy." He shakes his head "Need to be alert, and ready for trouble. " He brightens "Might get good price for one or both of the air-rafts, though we'll have to be careful not to get ripped off. Cash only!"

[terrymixon]

Pedro sips his beer and smiles."Rumored, supposed. I like the 'fellow traveller' bit. Makes her sound oh so suspicious!

If I had a credit for every time anything that didn't entirely conform to official Imperial Pronouncement of Reality. was pronounced an evil plot by the Ine Givar or Solomani, or whatever the bad guy du jour was...I coulda bought Connie with pocket change. Ine Givar on Ruie? Yes, infested like cucaroches infest a messy hab. "

"On this backwater, there might be a few who were sent here for punishment to stir up some trouble ... and a Naval Intelligence officer who was busted in rank for drunkenness or insubordination and a couple staff unlucky or incompetent enough to pull that short straw. There will be the usual grubby 'adventurers', con men, dissolute, very minor second and third spare heirs and opportunistic reprobates who infest these sorts of places and the do-gooders like our Lady of Tionale, whom I deeply suspect is guilty of being nothing more than young, idealistic and rebelling against her parents."

He sighs. "The usual hive of scum and villainy." He shakes his head "Need to be alert, and ready for trouble. " He brightens "Might get good price for one or both of the air-rafts, though we'll have to be careful not to get ripped off. Cash only!"

Emily nods her agreement.

[Tiglath]

Sigrun stares at Emily, meeting her gaze for a long moment. Her knuckles whiten around her goblet and then she smiles with genuine warmth “Truly the gods put us in the same place just to see what would happen!”

She pours herself another mead and says scornfully “Well, the Imperial Security Service have earned their pay in confirming the obvious. As I said, if there are Ine Givar on Ruie then they are surely on Tionale too? It's also true that I am a Sword World patriot and I have fought the Imperium, with good cause, for most of my life”.

She gives her vulpine smile “It's only right that they are fearful of me. What they don't know is that I also saved Imperial lives when I raided Silver - which you call Wardn. That same incident led me to a blood feud with the Ine Givar. The good people at this table can confirm I killed four of them on Ruie - I didn't think it too many”.

Replying to Pedro's point she says “It's very “Imperial” of them to object to how Freida Marie thinks and acts even outside their borders. However, the Ine Givar don't accept “passengers”. If she is in with them then she may have already become a fanatic”.

[Keven]

So have we figured out why this place is a Yellow Zone yet?

[Tiglath]

(OOC: I believe it's the local indigenous species/inhabitants attacking the the colonists (damned aliens! ).

It seems like Tionale's that place just over the border where everything that's illegal back home just isn't (Law Level 1) and it has the only decent starport for the the J2/J1 Regina/Arden run).

[bruce.desertrat]

I thought it was the tainted atmosphere...

[Tiglath]

(OOC: That too! Here's Sigrun's findings from the previous thread:
"There is trouble on Tionale all right. Delgado Trading is working a major geo-engineering project under contract from several Imperial nobles in the sector to open up the main world to major colonization. Right now it has a strong taint in the air requiring humans, vargr and aslan to wear filters at all times outside pressurized buildings. It is also, to quote one of Sigrun's contacts, bloody hot! It is only really comfortable at the poles and uninhabitable almost everywhere else. Of course, the natives...a specie called The Sixes...think the current environment is perfect. It's unfortunate for them that they are generally TL 0 or 1, nave no power and as such, have no real say in what is being done to their planet. There are a few Environmental Groups that are protesting, but the going odds say they'll have as much affect on the outcome as The Sixes will have, ie. none"

and Zaki's
Zaki uses her HUD to pull up information on Tionale. "The Sixes and the colonists aren't on friendly terms right now," she says. "There's a travel advisory in place. On the plus side, nearly all the colonists live close to the down port.").

[Keven]

(OOC: That too! Here's Sigrun's findings from the previous thread:
"There is trouble on Tionale all right. Delgado Trading is working a major geo-engineering project under contract from several Imperial nobles in the sector to open up the main world to major colonization. Right now it has a strong taint in the air requiring humans, vargr and aslan to wear filters at all times outside pressurized buildings. It is also, to quote one of Sigrun's contacts, bloody hot! It is only really comfortable at the poles and uninhabitable almost everywhere else. Of course, the natives...a specie called The Sixes...think the current environment is perfect. It's unfortunate for them that they are generally TL 0 or 1, nave no power and as such, have no real say in what is being done to their planet. There are a few Environmental Groups that are protesting, but the going odds say they'll have as much affect on the outcome as The Sixes will have, ie. none"

and Zaki's
Zaki uses her HUD to pull up information on Tionale. "The Sixes and the colonists aren't on friendly terms right now," she says. "There's a travel advisory in place. On the plus side, nearly all the colonists live close to the down port.").

Carlos sips his zapana. "So the low tech locals are gonna get paved over for profit. Lovely. And of course, the academics and other concerned outsiders are being pushed into the background. Sounds to me, the locals need to come up with something that makes big money in the Imperium that can only be done in their particular biome or become extinct."

[joertexas]

Carlos sips his zapana. "So the low tech locals are gonna get paved over for profit. Lovely. And of course, the academics and other concerned outsiders are being pushed into the background. Sounds to me, the locals need to come up with something that makes big money in the Imperium that can only be done in their particular biome or become extinct."

"Maybe that's what Freida Marie is trying to do. She has access to both offworld funds and a potential market," Zaki says.

[Tiglath]

Sigrun replies “On instinct I'd side with the locals against Imperial oppression but here, although there is something to fight for, it seems there is nothing to fight with. So, ja, if they are going to find some strategy it must be linked offworld". She shrugs and continues on "However, those who direct the Ine Givar are master puppeteers. Freida Marie may have been a priceless find for them. A dissolute Imperial noble's daughter radicalised to the true cause? Hah, the Ine Givar wouldn't give her up easily and the civilised Imperials wouldn't know what to do with her!”

“That's why blood feuds keep things simple”. she smiles and shows her white teeth but then concludes with "But here we don't even know what we don't know! We need better Intel as soon as we land".

[joertexas]

"And here I am, wishing we had more Swordies aboard," Zaki deadpans.

[Eris]

I thought it was the tainted atmosphere...

OOC: That too. Very much that, too!

Everyone ready to get to Tionale? Me too!

[terrymixon]

I thought it was the tainted atmosphere...

OOC: That too. Very much that, too!

Everyone ready to get to Tionale? Me too!

Emily

Yep!

[Tiglath]

Yes, please!

[Eris]

Today, I'll really try for today! Got to ditch this headache first, though.

[Eris]

The ship drops out of Jump Space right on time and Connie switches on the sensors immediately for those on the bridge, "Captain, there is a signal coming in from a beacon orbiting the planet dead ahead saying this is Tionale and advising visitors to turn on their transponders and switch their long range comms to channel 4.75. All of my systems are reporting normal readings, as well."

Scanning the passive sensors you pick up 3 ships moving within range of your sensors.

One ship is inbound to Tionale, about 400 thousand kilometers away from you. From its transponder you see it is named Finnian Way and is listed as a 200 dton Far Trader.

A second ship is outbound from Tionale, just leaving orbit and will pass near you in about 90 minutes. Its transponder lists it as Margie's Folly, also a 200 dton ship, but a Beowulf Class Free Trader.

The third ship is in Tionale orbit. Its transponder lists it as Das Sonntagskind, lists it as out of Arden, but gives no other information about it.